Raging Bull – blissfully invested in the process of keeping guitar-based rock alive!
Raging Bull is a high rev Blues/Rock trio based in London, UK, and made up of Quentin Fourmond (Vox/Guitar), Kostas Cheliotis (Bass Guitar) and Thomas Mowforth (Drums). Close your eyes and it’s easy to feel like you are back in the 60’s/70’s while taking in their self-titled EP. It has been a while since my first listen to rock EP or album satisfied so completely and deeply as this did. This 3 track EP is a classic journey without the frills, and the trip Raging Bull takes you on in their latest effort is visceral and fluid. Each song seems carefully placed for the best effect, to captivate and capture your senses. “The Only One” transitions to “Until he End” as cohesively as this moves to “Second Chance”. By the third and closing song, Raging Bull would have locked you into their Stoner Rock karma, filled with texture and emotion.
As far as this recording goes, it’s incredible difficult to fault Raging Bull on anything. “The Only One” sets the pace with slick refined guitar hooks. Rhythmic strums and muting rides on top of funky bass lines giving the opening track an edgy, driving feel before dissolving into a perfect cacophony of grooving sound. “Until he End” follows in a similar vein with reverberating vocals, a heavy beat and resonating guitars.
Where the EP really shines though is on the epic “Second Chance” which carries complex guitar work and thoughtful song structures that can potentially cause you to forget about the world outside of the music. Aside from the fiery guitar work and true grit vocals, this power trio functions rather phenomenally in all departments throughout this remarkable record.
Lyrically accessible and vocally superb this EP deserves all the plaudits that will surely come its way, as it’s a recording that restores some faith in rock n’ roll. There’s plenty of deep grooves, gut-busting riffs, complex time changes and intricate band interplay, but also a welcome sense of melody, space and time, as the music shifts through variants of pulsating, riff driven blues-rock.
The bold and brash sound achieved on this EP is definitely a measure of Raging Bull’s adventurous self-confidence and the essential connections between each player, which has at its core the musicianship and the groove.
There’s also a raw spontaneity to the music that is seriously lacking in so much modern rock and you can feel the electricity and energy of the band as they navigate the passages of each song. Well-recorded and produced for the most part, there is an immediacy and live quality quotient to the music that is hard to fake.
Do yourself a favor and grab a copy of this music and immerse yourself in the sound of a band blissfully invested in the process of keeping guitar based rock alive, without even knowing it!
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